... will always take responsibility, whatever the prophets of doom are saying with regard to the relevance of, or in doubting the integrity and quality of our statistics. We, as the ANC, want to remind all of you that Comrade Trevor Manuel, who has consistently sought to bolster the generation of statistical data in economic and budgetary planning on the continent since 2006, when he was still the Minister of Finance, invited all heads of statistics offices on the continent and the newly appointed executive secretary of the economic commission for Africa to a meeting in Cape Town, in January 2006. The meeting was called subsequent to the tabling of a disturbing report from Yaound in Cameroon, where statisticians were considering a resolution that declared the economic commission for Africa ineffective on matters of statistics.